Into the interior
Monday, October 22, 2007 | 3:09 pm
Ciudad Bolivar is a sticky, sweltering city on the banks of the Rio Orinoco in the part of the country Venezuelans like to call “the interior.”
Now, when I hear the phrase “the interior,” I think of “In the Heart of Darkness”-like conditions: human remains used as jewelry, severe moral emptiness, and possibly an anaconda or two.
I don’t think of sorbet-colored buildings set neatly aside quiet, cobblestone streets, a thriving fishing economy or acclaimed regional artisans.
Yet that’s what I’ve found in Ciudad Bolivar – capital of the Bolivar State, and kick-off point for many tourists heading for Venezuela’s many natural attractions.
Still, I’m here in part to see what’s happening at a time when the Venezuelan government claims colonial rule is ending for the indigenous groups who live in this vast region. One thing the indigenous people and their advocates, whether government or not, seem to agree on is that the ills that have occurred here aren’t much different from what American high schools read about in Joseph Konrad’s book.
“We’ve had 507 years of imperialism,” one spokeswoman for Venezuela’s Ministry of Indigenous Affairs told me.
She counts those years from 1492, when Christopher Columbus staked his claim in the Americas, until 1999, when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led a re-write of this country’s constitution that included expanded rights for indigenous groups.
Since 1999, she said, the indigenous groups have been in a new era. With Chavez’s help, they’ve reclaimed their past, and are building a future no one could have imagined 50 years ago.
Some indigenous leaders here in Ciudad Bolivar have their doubts as to whether Chavez is their answer. They’ve offered to show me what’s going on in Bolivar State.
I’m already nine hours by bus from Caracas, and tomorrow I’ll travel five more hours by car, stopping in a few villages along the way. Venezuela isn’t a tiny country, but it isn’t large. Still, many areas remain impossible to access by car. Those that are accessible are slow-going.
Now, when I hear the phrase “the interior,” I think of “In the Heart of Darkness”-like conditions: human remains used as jewelry, severe moral emptiness, and possibly an anaconda or two.
I don’t think of sorbet-colored buildings set neatly aside quiet, cobblestone streets, a thriving fishing economy or acclaimed regional artisans.
Yet that’s what I’ve found in Ciudad Bolivar – capital of the Bolivar State, and kick-off point for many tourists heading for Venezuela’s many natural attractions.
Still, I’m here in part to see what’s happening at a time when the Venezuelan government claims colonial rule is ending for the indigenous groups who live in this vast region. One thing the indigenous people and their advocates, whether government or not, seem to agree on is that the ills that have occurred here aren’t much different from what American high schools read about in Joseph Konrad’s book.
“We’ve had 507 years of imperialism,” one spokeswoman for Venezuela’s Ministry of Indigenous Affairs told me.
She counts those years from 1492, when Christopher Columbus staked his claim in the Americas, until 1999, when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led a re-write of this country’s constitution that included expanded rights for indigenous groups.
Since 1999, she said, the indigenous groups have been in a new era. With Chavez’s help, they’ve reclaimed their past, and are building a future no one could have imagined 50 years ago.
Some indigenous leaders here in Ciudad Bolivar have their doubts as to whether Chavez is their answer. They’ve offered to show me what’s going on in Bolivar State.
I’m already nine hours by bus from Caracas, and tomorrow I’ll travel five more hours by car, stopping in a few villages along the way. Venezuela isn’t a tiny country, but it isn’t large. Still, many areas remain impossible to access by car. Those that are accessible are slow-going.
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